UMass Amherst Associate Professor of German Ela Gezen Named 2022-23 Berlin Prize Fellow

AMHERST, Mass. – Ela Gezen, associate professor of German and director of German and Scandinavian Studies, has been named a 2022-23 Berlin Prize fellow by the American Academy in Berlin.

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Gezen is one of 20 scholars to receive the prestigious award intended to provide recipients with the time and resources to advance their scholarly and artistic work. It is annually given to U.S.-based scholars and artists who represent the highest standards of excellence in their fields of humanities, social sciences and arts.

As a fellow, Gezen will spend the spring 2023 semester in Berlin, Germany, working to complete her second book, “Cultures in Migration: Turkish Artistic Practices and Interventions in West Berlin.” The book examines cultural practices by Turkish artists during the late 1970s and early 1980s as an early manifestation of Turkish self-presentation in West Germany.

“I am very much looking forward to becoming a member of the intellectual community formed around the American Academy in Berlin,” Gezen says.

While in residence, Gezen will visit local archives to review relevant materials, including performance programs, event brochures and municipal documents. Fellows will also engage German audiences through lectures, readings and performances, which form the core of the American Academy’s public program.

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Gezen’s research and teaching focuses on 20th century German and Turkish literature and culture, with emphases on literatures of migration, minority discourses, historical and theoretical accounts of transnationalism, and literary and cultural theory.

Her first book, “Brecht, Turkish Theater, and Turkish-German Literature: Reception, Adaptation, and Innovation after 1960,” examines the significance of Bertolt Brecht for Turkish and Turkish-German literature.

Gezen has also co-edited one special issue of Colloquia Germanica, an international, peer-reviewed journal in the field of German literary and cultural studies and published several articles on music and literature. She is the 2021 recipient of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Outstanding German Educator award, given annually in recognition of innovative teaching, extraordinary talent, and exceptional leadership in the German teaching profession.

The American Academy in Berlin is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit institution of advanced scholarship dedicated to upholding the cultural, academic and political ties between the U.S. and Germany. For nearly three decades, the Academy has hosted residential fellows and guest lecturers from the United States who live and work together, share their expertise with German audiences and engage with professional German peers through a robust public program and private meetings. Through these activities and more, the Academy aims to strengthen the future of the transatlantic community of values.

The full list of the 2022-23 Berlin Prize fellows can be found on the American Academy of Berlin website.